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CourtBlog

Page history last edited by PBworks 18 years, 3 months ago

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My screename is Courtess016. Feel free to IM me anytime!

 

CourtFinalPaper

 

12/6/05

I am so ready for this semester to be over! I get to go home in 7 days. My Econ final will be over about the same time my mom will get here to pick me up. I cannot wait! I spent most of today working on my final presentation for Italian. It went pretty well, but I was filming outside for over an hour and it was freezing cold! Thankfully, I’m done with that. I just have to play it in class Thursday. Tomorrow, I perform my final scene in theater. Once I finish revising my final paper for this class, I’ll just have to study for my Econ final. I’m so excited to go home and be with my family and friends! *Courtney

 

CourtFinalDraft

 

12/1/05

I am going insane! I have horrible writer’s block and have no idea what else to write for the paper. I have 7 pages and I don’t know what else to include. I guess I still have my conclusion to write so that will help a little, but I have to find more information. This is not enjoyable at all. Oh well, I guess I better keep working on it. I have to come up with a 5 minute presentation for Italian about why Italian students should study at Penn State! Not looking forward to that. *Courtney

 

11/29/05

I’ve been working on my paper for the past 2 hours. It’s not a good day! It’s crappy and rainy outside, and I have to work on this paper, my final project for Italian, and tomorrow’s homework assignment. I just keep telling myself that 14 days from now I will be done with the first semester and will be on my way home for Christmas! I cannot wait! *Courtney

 

11/28/05

I’m so glad we had that break! I needed it! It was so nice to just be able to relax and not have to go to classes or do a lot of homework. I can’t believe we only have 2 weeks left here. We’re already 1/8 of the way thru our college years! It’s crazy how fast this semester has gone. I know next semester will be fast too. But for right now, I’m just looking forward to Christmas break and being home with my family and my boyfriend. Hopefully it will be a good holiday this year! *Courtney

 

CourtFinalProposal

 

11/17/05

Thanksgiving break is so close! I cannot wait! My mom is coming down this weekend with her sister and my 9 year old cousin for the volleyball game Saturday! They’re staying downtown that night, except my cousin is going to be staying in my room. She’s been telling our entire family all about how she’s “going to college” this weekend. She’s definitely a funny little kid. Also, they are going to drive separately so my mom can leave a car here for me to drive home on Monday. I can’t wait to go home to relax, eat a lot of good food, and see my friends and family. One week from today is Turkey Day! I’ll be lying on my couch, watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade before I go stuff myself! :) *Courtney

 

11/15/05

It has been a long time since I blogged, so I figured I’d better do some. I’m so ready for Thanksgiving break, or better yet, Christmas break. I just want to be home and not have to worry about getting homework done, or studying for exams. I can’t wait until we’re done with this semester. I just hope that next semester isn’t bad. I’ve been so busy lately with my Econ project and my Italian class. It’s ridiculous how much work I’ve had. I guess that’s how it will go the last couple weeks of the semester though. We only have 3 weeks of class left! I can’t wait! *Courtney

 

11/6/05

I just got back a little while ago from IUP. I went to see my boyfriend again this weekend. I had a pretty good time; I got to see my friend, Lisa, who has been going to school in NYC so that was really nice. She is transferring next semester to IUP so she will be closer to home. Friday night, I was at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe to visit my friend, Jostalyn. Her school is tiny! There are only about 1500 students and they only have 5 dormitories. Well, I have a lot of homework to get done so I’m gonna have to end this. *Courtney

 

Tonight, I commented on proposals by GiovanGrazi and JenLo.

 

CourtProposal

 

11/2/05

I chose my topic of alcohol use among college students because it’s something that everyone can relate to. Whether we believe it or not, social drinking at parties is a big part of life at college. I don’t drink for a lot of personal reasons, one of which inspired me to choose my topic. As I wrote before, my good friend Brandon was killed in March and now my friend Joe, who was driving, is serving his jail sentence. I’ve seen how quickly and easily alcohol can change and ruin lives. My goal in this paper is just to investigate how much of an impact this makes on the lives of college students. *Courtney

 

11/1/05

I finally chose a topic for my final paper. I’m going to write about alcohol usage among college students. I don’t drink but I’m not really against it. I think that there are a lot of arguments that can be presented about the topic. I’ve also seen the negative effects of it first hand when my friend, Brandon, died in March. I think it will actually be an interesting paper to write. I guess we’ll see how it goes! *Courtney

 

10/31/05

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! This weekend wasn’t that eventful for me. All I did was go to the game, but I was in the fourth row up from the end zone so that was awesome. But other than that, I just hung out in my dorm. This weekend I get to go to IUP with my friend Jostalyn again so that will be fun. I’m really looking forward to it! *Courtney

 

CourtFinalEvaluative

 

10/27/05

I just finished my evaluative argument. It took me a good 2 hours because I wrote it as I watched the movie! Whatever works right? I still have to study for an Italian quiz tomorrow though. I’m not looking forward to that. I hope tomorrow goes quick; I need a weekend. Although this will be a busy one, I need a break from classes. Next week will be better since I won’t have Theater every day. *Courtney

 

10/26/05

I’m so glad the snow melted! Today was a pretty easy day for me. I only had 2 classes which is always nice. In theater, we’ve started doing our final scenes so we only have to go to class once a week. Starting next week, I only have to go on Fridays so I’ll only have 1 class on Wednesday which will be wonderful! I guess I should probably go start my evaluative argument. *Courtney

 

10/25/05

I can’t believe that there is already snow on the ground. It was rainy this morning when I left for Econ but when I came out, there was snow EVERYWHERE! I’m not the biggest fan of snow; I only like it when I’m snowboarding. My roommate, on the other hand, is so excited. She used to live in New Jersey, but has lived in Florida for the past 10 years so she loves the snow. I’m giving it month before she’s sick of it! *Courtney

 

10/24/05

What a miserable rainy weekend! I did absolutely nothing this weekend except hang out with my friends on my floor. Overall, it was pretty uneventful though. I watched the game on Saturday night and that was pretty boring too. It was pretty exciting in the beginning but by halftime, I was bored out of my mind! Hopefully the Purdue game will be a little bit better! I’m looking forward to Homecoming, especially the parade! *Courtney

 

10/21/05 – Definitional Blog: Plagiarism

Many college students know the feeling of trying to finish a big paper early in the morning. Sometimes a student can get a little lazy which can lead to plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as the intentional or unintentional use of another writer’s work without using proper citation or using another’s thoughts and claiming them as your own.

 

Some could argue that if it was not intentional, then it isn’t plagiarism. This claim is incorrect, however, because the original writer is not being given credit for their work and ideas. It is always very important to cite the original author when quoting or referring to their composition because it is illegal to take credit for another’s efforts.

 

It could also be said that if the idea is reworded, it does not need to be cited. The point is that the writer’s original idea is still being used. By rewording their ideas, all that has changed is the needed use of quotation marks; the quote must still be properly cited. Likewise, if a direct quote is being used, it cannot be reworded; it must be given word for word.

 

Although plagiarism seems to be a complicated idea, it is rather simple. All that is required when using ideas from another source is a small citation after the sentence. In the overall scheme of things, it is really very simple.

 

10/21/05 – Yet another Evaluative Argument

I read an article on Yahoo about downloads of Mozilla Firefox web browsers. The article said that it’s good that Firefox has reached 100 million downloads less than a year after its official release. It also said that there is an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 downloads per day. One of the problems with Firefox, however, is that it had more vulnerabilities than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer but Microsoft’s problems were much more serious. Overall, I think that this article shows that Firefox is a good alternative and I know from personal experience that it works very well! *Courtney

 

10/20/05

Today was such a long day. I can’t believe that it’s already Thursday! I think I might be going home again this weekend, but I’m not sure. I want to; I miss being home! I can’t believe that we only have 2 more home football games! I looked at the syllabus for tomorrow and he gave us a bunch of stuff to do. It sucks, but I guess it’s better than sitting through class early in the morning! *Courtney

 

10/19/05 – Evaluative Argument

On MSN there was an article about a new drug to cure breast cancer. It talked about how it has only been used on patients in the late stages of cancer but new studies show that it could help to cure cancer during the early stages. It seems like a VERY good idea but the article also states that it can only be used on about 20% of women with cancer. It can only be used when the tumor is releasing too much of a protein called HER2 and must still be used with other treatments such as chemotherapy and surgery. Overall this seems like a very good idea, but I think that more research is needed to determine the actual effectiveness of the drug and any side effects that may occur.

 

10/18/05 – Evaluative Argument

I read on article on MSN about reopening the harbor tunnels after a terror alert. It says that it is a good idea because it helps with traffic control and reduces the amount of traffic detours despite the danger of the terror threats to blow up cars filled with explosives inside the tunnels. One very important counter-argument is that the danger may not have passed because they haven’t found the people who made the threats. Although the tunnels are very important for transportation, I think that they should take into account that the danger may still exist.

 

10/17/05 – Stigmergy Remix

Pierre-Paul Grasse introduced the theory of stigmergy in the 1950’s to describe the indirect communication of individual insects in their societies. It was originally defined during his study of termite nests. He showed that regulation and coordination of building do not depend on the individual worker, but from the entire society: a stimulating configuration causes a response by a termite worker whose action will then change the configuration that may trigger another, and possibly different, response by the same termite or perhaps others. Although his definition of stigmergy is attractive and stimulating, it is often overlooked by those studying social insects because it did not answer the issue of how stimuli must be organized in time and space to allow perfect coordination. Despite this vagueness, the concept of stigmergy is very profound and the consequences are yet to be explored. This concept may not only be important in studying the evolution and maintenance of animal societies, but also in other fields such as artificial intelligence and robotics. The aims of this article are: - to provide readers with an overview of what is known about stigmergy, - to invite researchers in this field to present new findings, - and to give the opportunity to researchers in other fields to present their work in the light of stigmergy.

 

10/13/05 – Causal Argument from GiovanGrazi

I found this article that really emphasizes a causal argument. This article describes that men’s cancer rates have dropped BECAUSE of early detection and people caring more about their diets, exercise, and weight control. But I think that many other things play a factor in this as well. I think that the doctors have better medicines and tactics to handle the cancer after it is found. I also think that there is a lot more awareness programs out there that help people recognize there own illnesses. This article is directed for more adults then kids because they are more susceptible to these illnesses. Not saying kids cannot, but it’s more prone to adults. This article really also shows the death rates of cancer victims declining so it also could be used as an article to inspire and inform people to stay healthy.

 

Thesis: Men’s cancer rates have dropped because of early detection and better diets, exercise, and weight control.

Reasons: Early detection; better diets, exercise, and weight control.

Counter-Arguments: Better medicines and treatments, better awareness programs.

 

10/12/05 – Causal Argument from KayCee

I found this article at Philly.com. The article is titled " Cooling newborns may help protect brains". In this article they talk about reducing brain damage caused by lack of oxygen by letting infants be cooled down to a temperature of 92.3 degrees. The temperature gradually goes back to normal to 98.6 degrees. In this article the causal argument is that cooling a baby after birth can reduce brain damage. They claim that the cooling the bodies reduces the brain's need for oxygen, oxygen in the brain causes brain damage. Cooling of babies may cause other damages to the babies.

 

Thesis: Brain damage is lessened because of cooling newborns down.

Reasons: It reduces the brain’s need for oxygen which can cause brain damage.

Counter-Arguments: Cooling down newborns can cause other damage.

 

10/11/05

I found today’s causal argument on the MSN homepage. This article related men’s waistlines with their likeliness to cheat. The causal argument is that a man will cheat because he has a smaller waistline. This is untrue because there are so many other factors involved in a man’s decision to cheat on his significant other and it could seem to say that all men who are slimmer will cheat, which is not true. It could just mean that men who are slimmer may be more overall attractive and more able to cheat. However, I do not believe that weight is an issue. I think that it is more about a man’s desires and not his weight. *Courtney

 

10/10/05

Alright, causal argument number one! I read on Yahoo that a new study shows that eating fish delays the onslaught of dementia. The causal argument in this would be that you won’t get dementia because you eat fish. This is not true because that would mean that everyone who suffers from dementia has never eaten fish; otherwise they would not have the disease. Perhaps they are trying to convince those who do not eat fish, or to emphasize the benefits of eating fish because of a decreasing market. It may be true that eating fish could have a small effect on delaying dementia, but overall I believe that there is more to it than that. *Courtney

 

10/9/05

Well yesterday was INSANE! I didn’t go to the game because my boyfriend was here and finding a ticket for him would have been too ridiculous so we hung out in my room and watched on TV. It was such an awesome game! My boyfriend grew up in Ohio so he is an OSU fan and he was not happy about PSU’s win! But who cares? :) I was up so late afterwards though, just hanging out and listening to all the crazy people outside! I slept until 12 today, and that was wonderful. I’m not looking forward to writing these causal arguments. I don’t really understand them that well, but I think after I read over the section in our book I’ll understand it better. *Courtney

 

CourtFinalAnalogy

 

10/6/05

I have so much stuff to do before this weekend. It is absolutely ridiculous. I hate it. I have to finish revising my analogy paper, write a paper for Theater, find a monologue for Theater, and I have a bunch of reading to do. I have to get it all done because my boyfriend is coming up this weekend to see me! So even though it’s hell right now, I know this weekend will be so worth it! *Courtney

 

CourtAnalogyDraft

 

10/4/05

Well, today was not very interesting. I’m kind of stressed though because I cannot get the information about my group in Econ 002. When I click the link, nothing ever happens. It’s really stressful because our first part is due in 2 weeks. Aside from that, I still have to finish my analogy paper and I have 2 assignments that I have to work on for my first-year seminar. Another thing I did today was go to the IM Building to get an application to officiate for IM volleyball. I was going to play, but I really need the money and that needs to come before playing! Hopefully, I will get the job but if not, I will have to find another one. I guess it’s time to finish that analogy paper!! *Courtney

 

10/3/05

I am so happy right now! I just found out that I only have a final exam in one of my classes! In my other classes I just have final projects or papers. My only exam is at 8:00 on Tuesday morning so after that, I get to go home for Christmas break. I am so excited about that. I just have to make sure I have a ride home so I don’t have to hang around here all week with nothing to do!! Well, I have plenty of time to figure that out. I better go work on this analogy paper. I still have to think of a good analogy! *Courtney

 

10/2/05

Well yesterday was definitely AWESOME!! PSU 5-0! My parents and little brother came for the game too. My brother sat in the student section with me and he had a blast! Now, I have to get ready to start classes again. I hate it. Oh well. Does anyone understand what is going on in English half the time? It hardly makes any sense. Truthfully, I’m more worried about Italian class. It gets pretty insane at times, but I love the language! I should probably go do the homework for tomorrow, huh? HAHA, I’ll go get on that! *Courtney

 

9/29/05

Well, today was my second exam here at PSU. I had an Italian exam a little over 2 weeks ago so my Econ one today made number 2! Tomorrow I get to take numbers 3 and 4. I have an exam in my Theater class and another one in my Italian class. If I thought that we had a lot in English, Italian is so much worse! We have a vocabulary quiz every week and an exam ever 2 or 3 weeks! It’s so insane, but luckily I don’t have a final exam in that class! We just have to do some kind of final project the last week of classes. I think I only have ONE final exam. That will make me SO happy! *Courtney

 

Hope Econ went well; I didn't think it was that bad, and good luck on the rest of them. -BensBlog

 

Enthymeme: “Because she is tall, she must play volleyball.”

Assumption: All tall people must play volleyball.

She is tall; therefore, she is a volleyball player.

The assumptions are wrong. You do not have to be tall to play volleyball and not all tall people are volleyball players.

 

9/27/05

HOW TO DO LAUNDRY

1. Gather all dirty items that you would like to wash (clothes, sheets, towels, etc.).

2. Sort items according to color. You should have a pile of whites, darks, and colors depending on the amount of laundry. You can also combine darks and colors if necessary.

3. Carry laundry to the nearest laundry facility.

4. Wash one load at a time. Place one pile in the washer, add the appropriate amount of detergent (check label), and choose the appropriate cycle. Whites should be washed in hot water and colors should be washed in cold. Close the door of the machine and start it.

5. When the timer goes off, remove clothes and dry accordingly. You can either hang your clothes/sheets/towels up to dry, or you can dry them in a dryer. Check the tags to see how each article should be dried.

6. Proceed to hang up or fold items.

 

9/26/05

This weekend was so great, but way too short! I had a blast hanging out with my boyfriend and friends! I met this awesome kid named Zabir. He was born in Pakistan but grew up in England. He is definitely one of the funniest people I’ve ever met! I was so sad having to leave my boyfriend. It’s really hard not being together, but its working great. I’m not looking forward to writing this how-to thing but I guess I better figure out what I should do. I also have to write a paper for my Advertising/PR class which I am NOT looking forward to! *Courtney

 

CourtFinalDefinition

 

9/23/05

I am so ready for this weekend! Today wasn’t bad though. Theater class was a lot of fun today! I actually liked what we did in English today. It’s so nice to get opinions from other people about my paper and to have them proofread it! It helped me a lot, so I revised my draft today and I’m done with that. All I have left to do for Monday is answer the questions about that Italian movie! Hopefully that won’t take long. Well I have to go get packed to leave! Have a good weekend everyone! *Courtney

 

9/22/05

What a long day. Today in Econ 002, we talked about our Gen Ed projects which seem a little bit confusing. If anyone else is in that class and doesn’t have any group members, I don’t have any either yet! Then I got to go to my Italian class but I think I did really well on the quiz! My first year seminar class went well, but it’s not too exciting. Then I got to go to the library to watch an Italian movie called Respiro which was completely nuts and didn’t make much sense. Now I have to figure out how I’m going to answer the questions on it. I’m really looking forward to this weekend because it will be a break where I can relax and just hang out with some friends from home. *Courtney

 

9/21/05

I am so ready for this week to be over. Tomorrow I have my third Italian vocabulary quiz and we’re having our second exam next Friday. I hate how often we have these things! But I’m learning more and I really like the language so I guess I should just focus on the good parts. I revised my definitional argument today and fixed it. My counter arguments weren’t very clear in it, but after going over the papers in class today I understood a lot better! Hopefully, it’s better now! *Courtney

 

9/20/05

Today has been a pretty good day! I finally got my tattoo and I love it. It didn’t hurt anywhere near as bad as I thought it was going to. I can’t wait until this weekend to see Jostalyn and my boyfriend, Marcus. It will be nice to see some people from home. I’m so tired right now, so I’m just going to stop rambling and go to bed! *Courtney

 

9/19/05

I am SO tired! I’m still sick, but I think I’m gradually getting better. I hope I get better soon. This weekend I am going to IUP with one of my good friends who graduated a year ahead of me. She’s going to pick me up Friday and we’re going to see our boyfriends! It’ll be so much fun to hang out with her. I haven’t seen her in forever. Tomorrow I am FINALLY going to get my tattoo done. Hopefully nothing will go wrong and it’ll actually happen this time! I finally finished my definitional argument, but I don’t think it’s very good. I haven’t written anything like that in a long time! All I’ve done lately is research papers, so the final project shouldn’t be too bad for me, I hope! Well, I better go study my Italian vocabulary for tomorrow. I think we have a quiz… *Courtney

 

CourtDefinitionDraft

 

9/18/05

This weekend has been one of the WORST! I am so incredibly sick, and because of it, I haven’t slept for more than 4 hours the past two nights. I feel like I’m dying! What is making my mood even worse is that I have to still write this definitional argument and I am not looking forward to that. I also have to complete a skit for my theater class tomorrow. That is just what I want to be doing at 9:00 in the morning. I guess I’ll go try to get some of this work done, but we’ll see how that works out. *Courtney

 

9/15/05

I’m really starting to get irritated with our English class. I hate how we still haven’t been given the topic for our definitional argument. Are we even getting a topic or do we have to pick one ourselves? I thought he said we were being assigned one, but I don’t know for sure. I’m not sure of a lot of things in that class! What about the final project? Are there any limits for what topic it has to be on? I wish we could get a straight answer but everything is so confusing! Hopefully we’ll get some answers soon. *Courtney

 

Your confused, I'm confused. Kaycee-KC

 

9/14/05

Another Wednesday, my favorite day of the week! I only have two classes on Wednesday and I'm done by 11 so that is a wonderful feeling! I get to come back to my dorm, eat lunch, take a nap, relax, and just hang out for a while before I have to do my homework. I love it. I'm hoping that this weekend my roommate and I can FINALLY get our tattoos. The place we tried last weekend was REALLY expensive! I want a tattoo, but I don't want to pay a fortune for it. I guess we'll see how that works out. If I can't get it, I can get one the next time I go home. There's a guy in Conneaut Lake who does a really good job and he's not too expensive. He does it as more of a side job/hobby kind of thing, and he's only open 4 nights a week from like 6 to midnight, so he doesn't charge a lot. I just want to get it done! It's driving me nuts! Haha, well it's study time! *Courtney

 

9/13/05

Today is SO HOT! I'm looking forward to it cooling off just a little bit outside. I don't want snow yet, just less heat! I had my first Italian exam and I think I actually did really well! I was really excited about it. For my first-year seminar class today, we had to go to that library open house and do those activities. It was pretty interesting actually. It was an interesting way to learn where all the different parts of the library are and what you can do in each different room. I got some good free stuff too! That is always an important perk. If you don't get free stuff, why bother? HAHA, just kidding! If anyone wants to IM me, my screenname is Courtess016. *Courtney

 

9/12/05

Dialogue vs. Debate

I think that there is a definite difference between dialogue and debate. The entire purpose of debate is to state your argument and back it up. You have to give reasons as to why you agree or disagree with a certain topic. Dialogue, on the other hand, isn't always argumentative. If it always was, you wouldn't be able to express yourself very well. I think that dialogue can be argumentative, but most of the time we use it to comfort, inform, and entertain other, as well as many other things. But who knows, I'm sure we'll come up with some reason(s) in class as to why dialogue is argumentative.

 

9/11/05 - My second narrative

It was March 25, 2005, a rainy day in Crawford County. I can remember the sun was nowhere to be found. It was as if the clouds had taken over the sky; the temperature outside was freezing cold. I had just woken up and was eating breakfast in the kitchen when my mom came in from the living room and asked me, “You used to date Brandon Schreffler, right?” I looked at her quizzically and replied, “Yeah, why?” Instead of immediately answering me, she asked, “You’re friends with him and Joe Bennett too, right?” I looked at her warily. “Yeah,” I said. I could tell something was wrong, but I was unsure of what it was. She told me that she had terrible news; something awful had happened. I started to feel nervous and a little shaky. She walked back into the living room and came back carrying the newspaper. She looked at me and said, “Brandon died yesterday in a drunk driving accident; he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. Joe Bennett was driving. Apparently they had both been drinking. The police are pressing charges against Joe.” I immediately felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I ripped the paper out of her hands and read the front-page article about the accident.

 

Brandon had been a star football player for Meadville Area High School, as had Joe. Joe had been one of the best quarterbacks in the area whereas Brandon was one of the best linemen. He had the record for the most tackles in his career – 479, if I remember correctly. He was just short of the 500 mark. I kept telling myself, “This isn’t happening. People like Brandon don’t get killed, and people like Joe don’t drive drunk and kill their best friend.

 

I could vaguely hear my mom telling me that I had to drive my brother to a friend’s house. As I walked back to my room to get my keys, tears began to fill my eyes. My throat closed up, and I could feel my hands shaking. I ran through my kitchen, not answering my mom as she asked me if I was okay. I sobbed the whole way to my brother’s friend’s house. When I got there, I put the car in park, expecting him to simply get out and go inside. Instead, he reached across the console and hugged me. “It’ll be okay, Courtney,” he said to me. I couldn’t believe my little 14 year old brother was comforting me. I just nodded as he climbed out of the car.

 

Only 4 days later, I was driving again. This time I was with my best friend, Elyse, and Shawn, a boy who was a year younger than me. This time, I was driving to Brandon’s funeral. Elyse and I had grown up together. It was through her that I knew Joe. Their families were really close and Joe was like her brother. Shawn was best friends with Brandon’s younger brother, Mitch.

 

The funeral home was horrible. I had been to viewing hours before, but never for someone who had died long before they’d ever lived. The line was incredibly long. As soon as I got there, I told Elyse and Shawn, “Just to warn you, I’m going to bawl like a baby.” When we finally got into the room, there were pieces of poster board covered with pictures of Brandon from his first baby pictures to his senior pictures. Of course, there were several that were covered with pictures of his high school football career. The most prominent was Brandon’s picture on the front page of the sports section declaring the beginning of the football season. As soon as I saw that, I remember the most random memory. Brandon once told me, “Don’t worry, when I get into the NFL, I’ll still remember you!” I had laughed then, but now the memory brought tears to my eyes as I realized that he’d had so many dreams that he never got to fulfill. The lowest point was when we walked past the casket, I broke down. Shawn introduced me to Brandon’s grandmother and told her that I had known Brandon for six years and we had dated. She reached out and hugged me. All I could think about was she was comforting me over the loss of her grandson. I looked at his family and realized how horrible this loss was for them. Only four years earlier, Brandon’s older sister, Elaina, was killed in a car accident because she hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt. This was the most horrible form of déjà vu for them.

 

It’s been nearly 6 months but I still think about Brandon and thinking about him is bittersweet. I remember how much fun we had together and how happy we were when we dated. I remember how we tried to get back together, but it never worked out. Then I remember that I’m not going to see him again for a long time. I believe that everyone has a purpose on this earth and I don’t know what Brandon’s was, but what I’ve learned through him is that you have to live for the moment. You never know when it will be your last.

 

I chose to revise the CaitSkyNarrative.

 

 

9/11/05

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago today, one of the greatest national tragedies of all time occurred. I can still remember how I felt, where I was, and who was with me when I first heard the news. I remember our Spanish teacher coming into the middle of science class and whispering to my teacher before walking out the door. The entire class simply looked at him in confusion as he silently walked over to his desk and got out the TV remote. He turned to us and said "The Twin Towers in New York have been hit by airplanes. We're done with today's lesson." Without another word, he turned on CNN and the entire class sat in silence as we all watched the video showing the planes striking the towers over and over again. When we heard that a plane had crashed near the Pittsburgh area, I began to worry. My dad was working near there. Was he in that town? Was he okay? Did he know what had happened?

Thoughts kept racing through my brain. All I could think of was hearing people say "I remember where I was when Kennedy was shot." I realized that someday, my kids would be learning about this in their history classes and I would be able to tell them "I remember where I was when the Twin Towers fell." It's amazing and horrifying to realize that you have just witnessed a national tragedy, knowing that you will never in your life forget what you've seen. *Courtney

 

9/9/05

Today has been a long day. I'm extremely tired and I've been sitting through classes all day. Tonight, my boyfriend and a good friend of mine from home are coming down to see my roommate and I. We're going to take them to the football game which will be awesome! I'm really excited about seeing my boyfriend and about the game, just about everything! I can't write too much because I have to go grab some dinner with my roommate before the guys finally get here! *Courtney

 

9/8/05

Well I'm feeling a little bit better than yesterday, I guess. Well I'm really looking forward to this weekend. The football game will be exciting. I missed the one last weekend since I was home so this is the first one for my roommate and I! I think we're going to get tattoos this weekend too. That will be awesome. I've already picked out what I want and where I want it! We'll see if we actually get it done this weekend or if we end up waiting! Well, I'll see you all tomorrow in class! *Courtney

 

9/7/05

Today has not been the greatest day. Back in March, one of my ex-boyfriends was killed in a drunk driving accident. The boy who was driving was also a friend of mine. They had been at a party and both of them were really drunk. Brandon, my ex, was going to drive home but Joe wasn't going to let him. Brandon wouldn't give up on it, so Joe offered to drive him. They wrecked into another car and Brandon didn't have his seatbelt on. He was killed almost instantly. Joe was wearing his seatbelt and only had a bruise. But, he had several charges brought against him. He was charged with DUI, underage drinking, involuntary manslaughter, vehicular homicide, possesion of marijuana (which was Brandon's), and several more. Today was his sentencing. He was originally facing a minimum of 25 years in prison but he was sentenced to 13 months to 5 years. Or he can go through a processing period of 4-6 months to enter a boot camp program. Needless to say, this has been a lose-lose situation for everyone. Hopefully, everything will work out alright in the end. *Courtney

 

CourtFinalNarrative

 

9/6/05

What a long day! I've been studying my Italian and working on homework for that class and Econ. I finished the Econ, but I have so much left to do for Italian! My professor gave us a ton of work to do. Oh, well. I don't have the class until Thursday again, so I have another day to work on it. Then maybe I can start on the Friday assignments. I'm still really confused about the sampling and linking. I don't understand what we have to do. I guess I'll have to find out about that tomorrow! Then I have to do my final draft of my narrative! I just hope I can remember to do all this stuff. I'm trying to remember to write it all down and so far, so good. Well, I will see you all tomorrow in class! *Courtney

 

9/6/05

As far as I'm concerned, that weekend was WAY too short! But I guess its back to real life now, so I better just get used to it. My weekend was pretty fun and definitely interesting. I actually wrote my narrative about something that happened this weekend, so if you want to, you should check it out. I'm still working on understanding how to do the sampling and linking, it seems pretty confusing to me. Hopefully, I can get it worked out. I already had Econ 2 and I still have to get through my Italian class and First-Year Seminar. That should be interesting. Right now, I'm going to go head off to the dining hall. I guess this is it for now! *Courtney

 

CourtBlogNarrative

 

9/2/05

Well today wasn't bad. Italian was much easier and I had a blast in my theater class. Right now, I'm getting ready to go home! It sucks that I'm going to miss the first football game, but my friend Kyle is coming home from the West Point Military Academy! I haven't seen him since June and he isn't coming home again until Thanksgiving, so I'm really looking forward to seeing him. My roommate, Calise, is coming with me so she'll get to witness firsthand the tiny town I come from! Well, I have to go finish packing and work on my self-narrative! *Courtney

 

9/1/05

Wow, today was wonderful! I started my Italian class today and it is definitely going to be a hard one. I'm hoping that I can pick up on it pretty easy! My only other class was Econ 002. I have to go work on an assignment for my First-Year Seminar later in the library so I'm sure that will be awesome. I still feel like I'm at camp or something and I'm going to go home soon. It's really weird that it still hasn't sunk in that I'll be spending about the next 9 months of my life here! Oh well, it has to sink in sometime, right? Well, I guess I'll write more later! *Courtney

 

8/31/05

Well, today was a relatively easy day for me. I only had 2 classes which were Theater and English (obviously). I think that I'm really going to like my Theater class because I was in drama for 3 years in high school and I love it! Maybe that makes me a nerd, I don't know. I think that English will be pretty cool too. Not a bad day for me! It's hard for me to believe that I'm actually in college! I still feel like I might wake up any minute and be back at home in that tiny little town I came from and have to go back to high school! My high school was really, really small. Most people are amazed when I tell them that I graduated with a class of 76 people. Where I come from, you always know everything about everyone! Sometimes it's nice, sometimes you hate it. That's one thing I like about being at Penn State, I can blend in when I want to or I can stand out if I want. That's really nice! Well, I guess that is all for now! *Courtney

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